Alhaji Bello Badejo, President of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, a Fulani socio-cultural organization, was arrested by soldiers from the Nigerian Army’s 117 Guards’ Battalion in Keffi, Nasarawa State.
Bodejo was arrested on Monday following an alleged confrontation between Fulani pastoralists and a retired soldier that injured the former serviceman.
An unnamed member of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore voiced alarm about Alhaji Badejo’s extended arrest, calling it as a troubling repeat.
According to the source, Badejo was detained for more than six months earlier this year when a similar incident occurred.
According to the source, the present incident erupted after Fulani pastoralists clashed with a retired Air Force officer in Tudun Wada, Karu Local Government Area.
He claimed that the retired commander recruited soldiers from the Keffi barracks, who arrived in the neighborhood and fired sporadically before capturing an unknown quantity of livestock.
He went on to say that when Alhaji Badejo returned from his journey on Monday, troops invaded his office at the Maliya livestock market in Tudun Wada and detained him.
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“These pastoralists are neither his children nor his employees, yet he was apprehended because he is the President of the socio-cultural organization, seen as the father figure of Fulani herdsmen,” a source confided to the newspaper.
According to reports, Alhaji Badejo could have been moved to the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) for additional examination.
This arrest follows a similar event in January 2024, when Badejo was detained by the Department of State Services for forming a Nomads Vigilante Group in Nasarawa State.
Authorities had voiced concern that the group’s actions could spark widespread violence.
